Illinois attorney general joins suit against Postal Service over mail voting rules
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced Wednesday he has joined a multistate lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service challenging new rules that purport to give it authority to regulate mail-in voting in federal elections.
The suit was filed two days after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a lower court order that had blocked the Trump administration from implementing an executive order that seeks to bar anyone who is not listed on a federally approved database of U.S. citizens from casting a mail-in ballot.
"We are asking the court for emergency relief because the administration is trying to undermine our citizens' access to voting within weeks of the midterm elections," Raoul said in a news release. "The U.S. Constitution plainly gives states — not the executive branch — the power to administer elections, and I am committed to swiftly fighting against this blatantly unconstitutional rule."
The case was filed in federal court in Massachusetts, the same court that issued an injunction in July blocking the Trump administration from implementing the executive order. Plaintiffs include attorneys general from 23 states, including Illinois, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
"Obviously, voting is one of our most cherished and fundamental rights, and this lawsuit is the next step in seeking to protect voters in Illinois and across the country from repeated efforts by this administration to limit the accessibility of voting for people in this state and across the United States," said Illinois Executive Deputy Attorney General Cara Hendrickson. "Nationally, about 30% of voters use amil-in voting in order to cast their ballots, and that ought to continue to be accessible to those voters."
Trump's executive order
On March 31, President Donald Trump issued an executive order entitled "Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections." It calls on the Department of Homeland Security to create a "State Citizenship List" for each state identifying residents of that state who are confirmed to be U.S. citizens who will be 18 at the time of the upcoming election.
It also directs the U.S. Postal Service to develop administrative regulations that would prohibit mail carriers from transmitting mail ballots to or from anyone who is not included on those lists.
"In other words, if a voter requested a ballot and this rule went into effect, the Post Office could refuse to deliver that mail to the voter if the ballot is not in an envelope that comports with the new rule, or if the voter is not on the list," said Hendrickson. "This is plainly unlawful under the United States Constitution. States have the obligation and the authority to administer elections in this country. The Postal Service and the President of the United States do not have the authority to administer elections."
The lawsuit cites some of the president's own social media posts as evidence that his executive order is part of a strategy to keep Republicans in power in Washington.
Those include a May 29, 2020, post on Twitter, which is now known as X, saying mail voting would "LEAD TO THE END OF OUR GREAT REPUBLICAN PARTY." It also cites an Aug. 18, 2025 post on Truth Social saying he aims to "get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS."
According to published news reports, however, Trump himself cast a mail-in ballot earlier this month in Florida's primary elections.
Implementing the restrictions
The Postal Service finalized administrative rules to implement the executive order on Friday, Aug. 21, before the Supreme Court issued its order the following Monday. But it remains unclear how, or whether, the new rules will be implemented ahead of this year's November elections.
A spokesperson for the Illinois State Board of Elections told Capitol News Illinois in an email Wednesday that it has not received any federal list of U.S. citizens residing in the state and has not been informed about whether one even exists.
The Illinois Attorney General's office said its attorneys would be in court next week in an effort to stop President Trump's executive order from moving forward.
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